Joe Locke: Are You Ready for Him?

Are you ready for Joe Locke? Are you ready for Joe Locke? Well you best get ready, Seattle, because he's getting ready for you. That's the word out of NYC where the cutting edge, critically-acclaimed vibraphonist has been rehearsing a new band with new music arranged especially for November 19, Locke's date with the Ballard Jazz Festival. A world premiere of sorts. Raise your hand if you dig, Seattle. And for those of you not yet hip to the Lockeness Vibes Monster, here's a three-lesson primer to get you up to speed. Yes, there will be a quiz after.

Joe Locke, Lesson #1: The bands. Locke's group for his Ballard date will feature Geoffrey Keezer on piano, Mike Pope on bass and Terreon Gully on drumsthe latest in a multitude of music projects with Joe's vibes at the helm. Hey, this guy has more bands than some cats have lives. First off, there's his 4 Walls of Freedom band with Gary Novak (drums), Ed Howard (bass) and Tommy Smith (tenor sax). Their extraordinary 2004 release on the Sirocco record label is titled Dear Life. Next up is the New Sound Quartet, co-led by Locke and Keezer with Gully and Howard. They have a new 2005 release available in Japan from Sony Music called The Summer Knows. Then there's Storytelling, a band Locke started with saxophonist Alex Foster in 1986, which includes Pope on bass along with [the late] Mark Ledford (vocals), Paul Bollenback (guitar), Tim Garland (tenor sax) and Billy Kilson (drums). Storytelling's latest is titled State of Soul (Sirocco, 2002), following up their self-titled 2001 recording debut. Okay, so let's recap. Three playersGully, Pope and Keezerfrom two bandsNew Sound Quartet and Storytellingwith two different aesthetics will join Locke onstage in Ballard. While these musicians know each other, they have yet to play together as a unitthe prospect of which gives Locke, the quartet's common thread, a sense of excitement knowing he's "the one who's putting it all in the beaker and shaking it up!"

Joe Locke, Lesson #2: The road. As you might guess, the V-man is in demand. Joe's touring schedule is so busy, he passes himself in airports. After 4 Walls of Freedom played the Portland Jazz Festival this past February, Locke joined Novak, Howard and pianist Dave Kikoski for two weeks in Italy. The first week in April found Locke in London recording at Ronnie Scott's with his Milt Jackson Tribute band featuring Mike LeDonne (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass) and Mikey Roker (drums)those live sessions, titled Rev-elation, just came out on the Sharp Nine label. Next stop, Japan in August, where Locke and Keezer's quartet performed at the Tokyo Jazz Festival, thanks to an invitation from the festival's musical director Herbie Hancock. And, as one might expect, Locke is no stranger to Seattle. He was here twice in 2004, recording in the spring with Rick Mandyck (alto sax), Jeff Johnson (bass), John Bishop (drums), David Budway (piano) and Thomas Marriott (trumpet) for Marriott's 2005 Origin Records release Individuation, which Locke co-produced. That fall he returned for the CD release at Tula's, including a weekend of performances captured by Jim Wilke for broadcast on Jazz After Hours.

Joe Locke, Lesson #3: The man. No Joe Locke primer would be complete without mention of the man behind the music. An east coast guy, born and bred, Locke's laser-like focus on the bandstand is matched only by his humility off it. He cut his teeth playing on the streets of New York in the "80's, making popular music in the truest sense of the world. The recipient of a self-described "University of the Streets" education, Locke's voice on vibes is colored with notes of intensity, humility and humanity. One can hear it too when Locke talks about people, especially his brothers in art, people like Novak, Gully, Keezer, Pope, Kikoski, Frank Kimbrough, George Braith and Cecil Taylor.

All About Jazz: You're a high energy guy involved in many projects with many other musicians. Are you usually the one who takes the first step in approaching other musicians about the possibility of playing together?

Joe Locke: Well, it's really funny in the case of Cecil Taylor. Cecil, over the years would come to my gigs. If I was doing something with an electric kind of funk thing, he'd be there in the audience. He's the kind of cat that really comes out in New York and checks out the music and over the last 15 years he's been in the audience many times when I've been playing, whether it was, like I said, an electric funk thing or playing with the Mingus Big Band or playing duo with Frank Kimbrough. Often times Cecil was there and he kept threatening to hire me and I'd say, yeah, Cecil, yeah sure, sure. Then I got a phone call from Cecil's management asking me if I could set aside x-number of dates to tour with Cecil, so that was Cecil's idea that was gestating with him for a long time.

AAJ: Can you tell if a band's rehearsed or not if you're listening in the audience?

JL: I don't think rehearsal alone solely makes for great music. I've heard and played music where there were no rehearsals involved and something really magical happened. But, as for can I tell if it's been rehearsed? I think a lot of times you can tell. That's really a loaded question because the first thing that comes to mind is rehearsal doesn't always make for great music. Communicating on a high level really is what it's about and sometimes being rehearsed can take the place of actual communication and that's when it's not good. Just playing tight music that's well rehearsed doesn't make for transcendent music. Sometimes unrehearsed music can be the most beautiful music because of the magic of chance and the joy of discovery in the moment.

Your question made me think about the process of rehearsing with Cecil Taylor. I rehearsed with Cecil Taylor for four days in a row for seven hours a day. We rehearsed very specific stuff, but when we got to the gig we didn't play any of it. So that's an interesting approach, isn't it? But that's part of Cecil's process and he had his reasons for doing that, I'm sure. I think that he was bringing the musicians into his sound world and really being specific about those things to let you know how serious it was, letting you know that he knew specifically what he was doingto bring you into his sound world and then say, "Okay, you got it now. Play freedom.' It was very cool to be a part of that.

Rehearsing for Ballard with the quartet, at the rehearsal I'm sure things are going to happen that I didn't think of and cats are going to make contributions and suggestions which will inform what the music becomes and on the gig it will change even more. So rehearsal, it's an interesting process, and I think for my music it is necessary, but it's only part of the equation.